DF Dean Foods Company New

Dairy distributor Dean Foods Co. said its revenue fell but volume declines slowed in its latest quarter.

The milk seller said the 1% decline in volume was the best year-over-year volume performance in at least four years and that it expects a continued improvement in volumes.

Shares rose 2.7% to $18.95 in morning trading.

Dallas-based Dean Foods has been aiming to shift more of its business toward branded milk and ice cream products that command higher profits, at a time when alternatives like almond and soy milk have cut into sales of traditional cow's milk.

In September, the company named Ralph Scozzafava as the company's new chief executive, taking over on Jan. 1.

Lower raw milk prices helped the company's results. The company said a measure of raw milk costs increased 12% from the second quarter but fell nearly 8% from last year.

Dean Foods expects adjusted earnings per share for its fourth quarter of between 37 cents and 45 cents. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings per share of 37 cents.

In all for the quarter, Dean Foods reported a profit of $14.5 million, or 16 cents a share, down from $20.2 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share were 37 cents as analysts had expected 36 cents in adjusted earnings.

Revenue slipped 3.4% to $1.96 billion, meeting analyst's expectations.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2016 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT)

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